F you, Taylor Swift!” shouted Megyn Kelly, “and f all of the people who want to see these children have body parts chopped off.”

For those not fluent in Republican crazy-speak, Kelly’s meltdown was triggered by Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris the night before, barely one hour after Trump all but face-planted on the debate stage. Kelly was especially triggered by Swift highlighting her appreciation for vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s support of LGBTQ+ rights.

Other right-wing commentators, like Ben Shapiro, took another approach: making fun of Swifties. “Note: if you vote for a particular candidate because your favorite singer is doing so, please don’t vote. You are too stupid to vote,” wrote Shapiro on X. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, threatened to impregnate her.

  • index@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    If this is the leverage celebrities can do imagine if they would endorse third parties

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      Let’s say Taylor Swift endorsed the Green Party, and then 500k swifties register to vote. Assume all of them vote for the Green Party.

      Adding that to the Greens’ 2016 numbers, they would have gotten about 2M votes. In 2020, it’d be about 1M. Both are less than 2% of the total vote, so we’re not even talking about reaching the 5% threshold for federal funding of the next campaign.

      Swift is one of the few with a large and highly devoted fanbase that could even come close to these numbers.

      OTOH, 500k swifties voting for Democrats (not all of them will, but they will in the vast majority of cases) can matter a lot. It takes Harris from a close race where she might win the popular vote while losing the electoral college, and turning into a race with a comfortable lead where we don’t have to worry about that damn stupid technicality putting Trump in office.

      • index@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        I really doubt someone who takes a private jet multiple times a week is ever going to vote or endorse green. Anyway a bunch of celebrities like this endorsing third parties would probably be enough to break the narrative that third parties can’t win and they would get millions of votes.

        we don’t have to worry

        You don’t have to worry because you are not a kid living in gaza being bombed with US weapons

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        2 months ago

        For example if i were a celebrity i would do that to support a third party that would offer a valid solution to the end of the genocide in gaza

        • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          That’s fair, but Harris is already better on that front than Biden. There just aren’t enough Americans in favor of a good solution.

          Harris at least might bend to public outcry, if we can get more people on our side.

          • index@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Instead of hoping that the vice president of a party supporting a genocide bend to public outcry you could agree that a celebrity endorsing a third party would actually be a good thing.